European shares mixed, Asia slips on omicron worries

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — European benchmarks have opened mixed, with London’s FTSE 100 at nearly a two-year high, after Asian shares mostly finished lower. U.S. futures edged higher. Stocks have wobbled as investors assess the omicron coronavirus variant’s potential impact on the world economy. Much is still uncertain about omicron, whose spread will likely lead to a return to pandemic restrictions in some places that will hold back economic recovery. Although Asia has relatively few omicron cases compared with the U.S. and Europe, fears are growing that it will spread quickly once it gets going.